BARCELONA, 16 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Union of Sports Federations of Catalonia (UFEC) has organized the first International Congress of Women in Sport, a place for “exchange of experiences, good practices and stories” around women’s sport that has brought together more than 400 people between this Thursday and Friday in the 1899 Auditorium of FC Barcelona.
From the organization, Gerard Esteva, president of the UFEC, has valued the first edition of the congress as “a resounding success, both for the great attendance and for the quality of the presentations and reflections”. Esteva has assured that from the Union of Federations “women’s sport is a priority” and they are working to make its growth “a reality”.
For her part, the general secretary of Sport and Physical Activity, Anna Caula, defended during the institutional inauguration the decisions of a legislature that intends to give visibility and project women’s sport. “We fight and empower ourselves, with initiatives like the IWISC, to innovate and show that women’s sport is a reality,” she added.
The congress has had Ona Carbonell and Jana Fernández as ambassadors. In the case of the artistic swimmer, she has recalled that at the beginning of her career “she did not have many female references”, so it was “complicated” to project herself professionally. Carbonell, who is on maternity leave, has been proud to be a reference for the youngest players and also to see them involved in this congress.
During the first IWISC Round Table ‘Follow a Dream’, Georgina Oliva, player of the Spanish hockey team; Jana Fernández, FC Barcelona soccer player; Britt Vonk, Dutch professional softball player; and Astrid Fina, the first Spanish paralympic medalist in adapted snow surfing, have shared their personal and professional stories.
“MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO BE PROFESSIONALS AND LIVE FROM SPORTS”
The four have agreed on the fact that “winning and being constant is key to inspiring people, getting more visibility and, therefore, making women’s sport grow”. According to Fernández, also an ambassador of the congress, “not losing humility and being close to the fans helps to position themselves as benchmarks.” Along the same lines, Vonk explained that we must continue fighting “so that future generations have many more opportunities to be professionals and live from sport”
Other topics covered in the two days of the event were the categorization by sex in the competition and the importance of gender, the pioneering projects for equality developed by the Catalan federations, the opportunity to meet first-hand leaders who leave their mark on equality in sport and innovative platforms to spread women’s sport.
All this through six round tables that have discussed the most relevant aspects of the day to day of elite athletes, their careers, women’s sports leadership, digitization projects that promote women’s sport and the latest changes in regulations and sports regulations that directly affect women.
Among the leaders and communicators who have participated are Maria Tato, director of Women’s Football of the RFEF; Marijke Fleuren, President of the European Hockey Federation (EHF); Beatriz Álvarez, president of the Women’s Professional Soccer League; or Maribel Zamora, president of the Catalan Volleyball Federation and of the UFEC Women Leaders and Sports Commission, among others. All of them also accompanied by people with experience in the field of sports law.